Biblio File

Elementary, My Dear Librarian: Celebrating Arthur Conan Doyle

If Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were immortal, he’d celebrate his 156th birthday today.

And the Scottish author IS immortal, in a way: He lives on in his most famous character, the detective Sherlock Holmes.

NYPL staff picked out their all-time favorite stories about the inimitable detective. (Don’t worry — no spoilers.)

My favorite was always The Hound of the Baskervilles, perhaps just because of the eerie dog on the cover of my childhood copy. But I also remember the atmosphere… the howling dog, the dense fog… Danita Nichols, Inwood

When I was in fourth or fifth grade, my father gave me his childhood comic book collection. He told me that these comics of classic novels were how he had learned about and read so many British and American classic novels. I gobbled them up. The Hound of The Baskervilles comic was so much fun to read, with great illustrations: a perfect way to introduce Sherlock Holmes to kids. —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

I'm a HUGE fan of Sherlock Holmes and I like to reread those stories every couple of years, or whenever enough time has passed that I no longer remember “whodunit!”  The story that sticks with me the most is “Adventure of the Dancing Men.” When I read that story for the first time as a kid, the idea of a unique and unusual secret code had a very strong impact on me, and I dreamed about creating secret codes of my own. —Andrea Lipinski, Kingsbridge
 
A Study in Scarlet, because it establishes Holmes' eccentric character and his peculiar method. When Holmes and Watson are introduced for first time, Holmes says without hesitation, “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.” That introduction of the sleuth and his future colleague and chronicler-in-crime illustrates so dramatically the method of deduction and the even older idea that we learned to read before we learned to write. Jeremy Megraw, Billy Rose Theater Division
 
My favorite Sherlock Holmes story is “A Scandal in Bohemia,” as it is the only story to feature one of my favorite characters: Irene Adler. Although the mystery and the twist are fabulous, the characters truly make this story and are the reason I reread it... over and over again! Alexandria Abenshon, Countee Cullen
 
(A second vote!) My favorite is “A Scandal in Bohemia,” because chauvinist Holmes is outsmarted by Irene Adler. But Shadows over Baker Street contains some good stories. It’s Sherlock Holmes meets H.P. Lovecraft.Brian Baer, Mulberry Street
 
Let’s not forget his medieval adventure book, The White Company. It’s not a bad choice for folks who are waiting for the next Game of Thrones book and want to scratch that medieval-knights itch. Judd Karlan, City Island
 
My favorite Sherlock Holmes story is “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.” It's the first story my dad (a member of the Red Circle Society and a Sherlock Holmes aficionado who took the whole family to 221B Baker St. in London) recounted for me.  It still gives me the willies! —Susie Tucker Heimbach, Mulberry Street
 
When I was about 12, I read in a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories that you could write to him, and the bank that occupied the address for 221B Baker St. would write back as Sherlock Holmes. And sure enough, they did.
 
The story I reread most recently was "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League." In today's world, I doubt that a wanted ad for red-headed male applicants would seem as curious (what with casting calls for models and actors), but copying out the Encyclopedia Britannica by hand might be. Jenny Baum, Jefferson Market
 
Sherlock Holmes is immortal, and many writers have re-imagined the character, so I'd also like to mention one of my favorites. Laurie R. King's Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mysteries are beautifully plotted in vivid settings and showcase all of Holmes's remarkable and often daring detective methods, which he passes along to his young pupil (later his wife!), the brilliant Biblical scholar, Mary Russell. Elizabeth Waters, Mid-Manhattan
 
The List of Seven features Doyle himself as the protagonist, alongside two brothers who served as the inspiration for his own famous characters. It's written by Mark Frost, the co-creator of Twin Peaks. It’s a fast Victorian theosophical murder mystery roller-coaster ride with zombies. Do NOT read the epilogue until you've finished the rest of the book! Billy Parrott, Mid-Manhattan
 
Doyle didn’t write Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time , but it takes its title from dialogue in the Holmes story “Silver Blaze.” The play by Simon Stephens is up for a Tony, and both have been widely praised for the way they portray the autistic hero.Barbara Cohenstratyner, Exhibitions
 
My all-time favorite Sherlock Holmes is played by Robert Downey Jr. in the film by the same name. In the film, Sherlock Holmes is brilliant, hilarious, and very strong. The film was directed by Guy Ritchie. Lilian Calix, Hamilton Grange

Comments

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I enjoyed the movie with RDJ

I enjoyed the movie with RDJ more than I thought I would. It was really funny!

There is a long tradition of

There is a long tradition of Sherlockian fandom among Librarians - the Sub-Librarians Scion, founded in 1967, is the oldest professional scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars. The name comes from the Adventure of the Illustrious Client, in which Watson consults "Lomax, the sub-librarian" at the London Library.

BOOKS

I have a collection of over 50 Sherlock Holmes Books. Im always looking for authors who carry on the tradition of A C Doyle Type stories with deductions and mysteries that carry on Sherlock's Detective work. If anybody could turn me on to these newer Authors I would be very grateful.

Hi Lou,

Hi Lou, I've always felt that Peter Lovesey's mysteries echo Doyle's. Lovesey has written books for a number of different series, most notably a Victorian-era series featuring Sergeant Cribb and a modern crime series following Detective Peter Diamond. No one quite compares to Doyle and Holmes, but these felt like close alternatives! Lex

Big Finish audio

My current fix for Sherlock is through the excellent audio adaptations and new stories by Big Finish productions. Recommended.